Secret Lives and Siblings
by Mauradingknight
Summary: Clearly AU, and a crossover with stargate sg1... Don and Charlie have a sister, who is angry at Alan... who doesn't know that she's MIA.. read and review... yes, this formerly was The Genius Series....HIATUS
1. Secret Keeper

"FBI open up!" shouted Don Eppes with all his might, as he and his team waited, they heard a scuffling in the back.

"We got him sir," crackled Don's radio, "he tried to make a break for it, just like we knew he would."

"Copy," said Don as he crashed through a door. If this guy was wanted for kidnapping, he was sure the kids would be here.

The house was empty, completely clean. Passing the basement door, he suddenly heard a thud, a scraping of what sounded like a key, and the door opened. A woman and a man stumbled in, knocking Don out of the way. They fought each other with amazing speed and agility in the small hallway, but it was soon clear the woman had the easy advantage, and she quickly knocked him out with a quick jab over his neck. She then turned to Don, eyeing him suspiciously.

The woman had brown-black curly hair that was kept in a ponytail, a few strands framing her eyes. Her eyes were sea blue with a cloudy air -- they seemed so familiar.

"You," she said in an angry voice, bringing him back to reality. "Call off your team, this is now under the investigation of the U.S. Air Force." She started toward him, than stumbled. Don caught her, spotting a dark stain on her thigh, and it was spreading.

Don's instincts took over, "hey we've got two people in here! Looks like they need help" "Get me the paramedics stat!" A cop came in with two men, who quickly loaded her onto the stretcher. The cop cuffed the man, who began to come around, and read him his rights. Don could tell the woman was fading, slipping into unconsciousness. "Hey, what's your name? We should contact your next of kin."

"Cassandra Eppes, US Air Force. You need to call General O'Neill, two Ls, he'll be wanting to know that I located the artifacts." She grimaced in pain before she slipped into unconsciousness. Don stood there, in shock as the paramedics rolled her away.

"Don, do you have a sister? I thought that girl looked exactly like Charlie," said Megan, running into the house, Don suddenly knew where those eyes had come from."

"I don't understand. Cassi, my sister, has been gone for years. She left when I was 17 to go enlist in the Air Force. But she's stationed in Colorado Springs last I heard."

"Don, do you want to go with your sister? I can go get your dad and Charlie if you want me two."

Don found himself shaking his head. "Dad and Charlie have to hear this from me, they won't believe anyone else. Cassi's been gone for so long…" He jumped in his SUV and drove home

_How am I going to tell Dad and Charlie? How are we going to tell Cassi about mom? Does Cassi know that I worked for the FBI? She's a year older then me, and I was still in high school when she left. _Don did some rough calculations in his head. Cassi would be about 33 right now. Don arrived at Charlie's house, got out of the house and ran towards his father, who was gardening.

"Dad, I have to talk to you and Charlie, it's urgent."

Alan Eppes looked quizzically at his eldest son. "Charlie, get out of the garage, it looks like something happened." Charlie came out in the next few seconds, and, like his father, looked quizzically at Don.

Don danced on the spot, then stopped. "We found Cassi."

Alan looked at Don, confused for a second, but then tears of realization began to creep down his face as he suddenly gasped.

Charlie went ballistic, "Let's go! Now!

The three got into the car and drove to the hospital.

Charlie could remember Saturday afternoons when his mom and dad had gone to see Don at a basketball game, and they would just do what they wanted. Cassi would study her languages and Charlie would do math. When Cassi enlisted, that all ended. There was a huge fight, resulting in Cassi packing her bag and leaving, never to be seen again. After that, Charlie was alone in facing his Senior year, the worst year of his life.

As Charlie again returned to reality, he realized that they were at the hospital. Standing in the intensive care unit door. Don gathered up his courage and stepped up to the head nurse. "We're here to see Cassandra Eppes."

"I'm sorry, but she's asking for no visitors."

"We're her family," Charlie shouted, "We have a right to see her."

The nurse looked annoyed, "Look, she said that only when some guy named General O'Neill comes by that he and his group should be shown in to see her, otherwise, she doesn't want any visitors."

"Look, I'm FBI and she was involved in a case that we recently solved. I need to see her one way or another."

The nurse sighed. "Fine, only you can come in." She led him to a door and motioned him in.

He walked in apprehensively, trying to remember that she wasn't really his sister any more. She was a stranger. "Hello, I'm Don Eppes of the FBI, I need to ask you a few questions."

Cassandra sat up. "Go ahead." She sad rather stiffly.

Don took a step back in surprise. "What were you doing in that house?"

"I was retrieving some…stolen goods."

"Stolen goods? I thought a kidnapper lived there."

Cassi shook her head. "We were trying to keep the neighbors away from the house. The people living there are dangerous. I should have known somebody'd be smart and contact you. Don't you realize what house it was?" Don shook his head. Cassi cracked a smile. "Dude! It was the lot you and I used to go to and fight over who was gonna play older sibling with Charlie."

Don stared, "That's right, and you usually won because you would lift Dad's old weights behind our backs. So where have you been stationed?"

"I spent a little time in Afghanistan, but I've traveled all over. They like us geniuses who are multilingual."

Don laughed, "So does the FBI."

They stood there for a long while. Cassi finally broke the silence. "The knife wound isn't that bad so I'm probably going to be able to leave soon."

"Did the doctor's tell you this?"

Cassi laughed, "no, but when you go to the infirmary as often as I do, you tend to be able to tell how bad something is. But my boss will be here soon and I'm gonna have to debrief him, so I need you so leave."

Don's eye sparkled with glee, "secret spy stuff, huh? I'll leave you to it." He got up and walked to the door. "Hey Cassi," she looked up, "don't be a stranger." And then he left.

A gray-haired man followed by a blonde-haired woman and a brown-haired man approached the nurse's desk. The men were in military fatigues; the other was clearly a doctor. The older man spoke to the nurse in a quiet voice, "My name is General O'Neill, we're here to see Cassandra Eppes."

"Right this way." Said the nurse.

The three trooped into the room, to find Cassi sitting up in bed, reading the LA times. Cassi looked up and smiled at the three-some. "Daniel, Jack, Sam, you're late. My brother's already been by, snooping around, trying to figure out what's going on."

The man named Jack spoke up, "I never knew that you had a brother."

Cassi's voice was almost a whisper, "I have two brothers, Charlie and Don Eppes"

Sam looked surprised, "Your youngest brother is the math genius? The one who went to college when he was like 14?"

Cassi nodded. "He's the one. His IQ is 180 or something like that. He beat me by 10 points. Don's pretty smart too. His IQ is 150, however, Don's interests were more about sports and girls then numbers and languages. He is good at strategy, and he would have been an amazing military officer if I hadn't caused all the drama at home by joining the air force."

Jack interjected, "you never told me there was drama at home."

Cassi nodded again. "They thought I was wasting my talents as a linguist."

Flashback –

"How could you do this to yourself? You have one of the top linguistic minds in the world, USC offered you a free ride, and you go off and enlist," Margaret Eppes cried to her daughter.

"Mom," Cassi said in a calm voice, "you have to understand, all my life people have treated me different, like I'm fragile and special. The Air Force is my chance to be put on an equal scale. I don't have to be smart there, I have to be strong."

"I forbid you to go, we'll call them and tell them that we won't let you." Alan Eppes now sprang up. "If you're going off to enlist, then you won't be a part of this family any more."

"Dad, I'm 18. I can make decisions for myself. You can't baby me and tell me what to do any more. If you want to kick me out, then fine, but you have no right to say what I can't do. My life isn't a democracy."

Cassi stormed up to her room. She got out the bag the Air Force had issued her, stuffed it with clothes, books, and everything she could fit. As she was leaving, she ran into Charlie, the 13-year-old soon-to-be high school senior seemed to not understand what was happening.

"Cassi? What's going on? What's in that bag? Why are you leaving me?" he cried.

Cassi kneeled down and looked deep into his eyes. "Charlie, mom and dad are mad at me because I'm going off to fight in the Air Force. You have to understand, this is what I've always wanted to do. There will come a day in your life when you have to choose between what you want and what dad and mom want. I hope that day you understand the choice that I have to make here. I love you Charlie."

With that she left, running to the bus station, where her fellow recruits were waiting with their families. She felt somewhat bitter as the high school jocks stared at her. Then the whispers started. "She's going! She's a geek. She won't last two weeks." One voice echoed, "I don't know man… she's tough." Somebody yelled out, "Go home geek!"

Cassi turned around, "Next person that calls me a geek will have to answer to me." She shouted.

They all quieted down, it was common knowledge that Cassi could kick anybody's butt that she wanted too.

End Flashback –

"About a year of training and three years of tour later, I met Daniel and I was brought to the mountain. He helped me learn basic Gou'ald and Russian. It's been eight years to the day that I joined the SGC, nine years since I stopped talking to my family."

Jack whistled, "I wondered why you looked so awkward as we were coming in. Now I know that it's because you haven't talked to your brother in so long."

Cassi looked at Sam. "So, how long do you think I'll be bedridden? Did you talk with the doctor?"

Sam smiled. "They're letting you out with the promise that you'll stay on the crutches they're giving you."

"Something I'll make her adhere to," said Daniel, smiling. "No work, either missy, I know you're miss perfect work ethic."

"Did the team pick up my stuff?" asked Cassi.

Jack nodded. "SG-13 did about an hour ago, the Feds were getting kinda huffy about the false alarm, but I think they're happy it was a false alarm. The trust members got away though."

"Damn… so Daniel, what are we gonna do for three weeks, since I can't work."

"Jack's given me stand down, so we could go on the first vacation we've ever taken."

"Nowhere sandy though, I don't want to deal with sand in my crutches."

Daniel nodded, "and cruises are pretty much out, since the only way back is kind of attention getting."

"We could stay here."

"In L.A."

"Yeah, I could show you my hometown, introduce you to Colby, Amita, some other people that I've kept in contact with."

"Sounds good. I have a friend here that I'm sure we could crash with for a couple days, or we could say in the hotel."

"I haven't stayed in a hotel in years…"

"It's settled then, you'll take me around town and I'll drive you."

Jack and Sam smiled at each other as they gazed on. Daniel and Cassi had been going out for a while now. They both knew that Daniel had bought a ring and was planning a proposal soon.

Throughout the next week, Cassandra showed Daniel around L.A., showing him her old school, the places she hung out, the good restaurants. Cassi was unsure if she wanted to visit Don or Charlie at work. She knew people both at CalSci and at the FBI office. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her brothers that she knew about them and her connections with their coworkers.

But eventually, Daniel asked to meet her brothers and he knew someone at the FBI he wanted to see.

Flashback –

After serving her tour in Europe, Cassi started to look for an interesting job in the states that involved military training. She had temporarily served in Florida, trying to find a more permanent job.

Cassi was at the Air Force library practicing her verb forms from Chinese when a brown-haired man in glasses approached her. "You know Chinese? Wow, impressive! Do you know any other languages?"

She quickly stood up, saluted and spoke, "Sir, I am fluent in Spanish, French, both versions of English, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, several African dialects, Italian, Portuguese, and I can read Latin."

The man, whose name was Daniel, smiled, "No need to call me sir, I'm not military, how do you know so many, you can't be more then 25." Cassi lowed her hand, her body relaxing.

"Well, I'm a linguistical genius. I'm actually 21; I enlisted in the Air Force because I admire them. My parents actually had a fit when they found out, they had high hopes of me going off to college, and then work some desk job, but none of that for me."

The man smiled, "My name is Daniel Jackson."

Cassi smiled, "Cassandra Eppes."

The man frowned suddenly, "Your brother doesn't happen to be Charles Eppes does it."

"He is my brother, though I haven't heard from him since I left home, they all are peeved at me for some reason. I actually have to go, the list of our assignments for duty is being put up soon …"

"Go ahead! Good luck."

Cassi ran out of the library to the list by her dorm, it took her a while to find the E's, and then frowned.

Eppes, Cassandra -- Cheneye Mountain, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

She ran to her room, dialed the number to her advisor, and impatiently waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Sir, this is Cassandra Eppes, is there a typo on my assignment?"

"No, you're going to Colorado Springs at 0800 tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you sir."

Cassi boarded the bus that was heading from California to Colorado Springs 15 minutes early and was not surprised to see an empty bus. She sat down near the front and got her Chinese book out, memorizing how to conjugate "to translate." Someone else boarded the bus and Cassi looked up to see Daniel Jackson coming toward her.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Cassi asked questioningly.

"I work at Cheneye Mountain." Daniel chuckled.

"I thought you weren't affiliated with the military." Cassi said questioningly

"I'm not, I'm a consultant on archeology and linguistics."

"Really! So you were testing me yesterday."

"Yeah, the work at the mountain is rather... challenging, we had to be sure."

"No problem, that's what I like about the military, even if your a genius, you still have to prove yourself. There is something that has been bothering me, how do you know about my brother?"

"There was an article on him in the New York Times last week, I cut it out because I thought he could be a potential canidate when he gets older."

"Charlie, no, he won't accept it. He wants to please Mom and Dad too much, so does Don. I guess you could say I'm the rebel in the family."

Daniel laughed. Then he decided to take a more mysterious note. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to look at some text for me, I've been having a little trouble translating it." He handed her a notepad.

"This seems like a very old dialect of Ancient Egyption... it seems like it says something along the lines of...Beware the Gods? And it goes on!" Cassi grabbed a pencil from her bag. "May I?" Daniel nodded, pulling his own work out, the two working consistantly through lunch and dinner, until the sun was setting.

"There," Cassi said, "loosly translating, this says 'Beware the Gods, for there are many, and when the chosen race rises up against them, the Gods will rise up under the Lords of the Heavens and they will attack the chosen race with all they have, until they are weary and defeated.' What does that mean? Where did this come from?"

Daniel sighed, "First we have to get you into the base." The bus then suddenly stopped and opened its doors. They were in Colorado Springs.

-- End Flashback

Cassi smiled at the memory as Daniel drove over to CalSci and parked in a visitor parking space. Cassi got directions to his office, and she and Daniel quickly found it. Charlie wasn't inside, but a pretty Indian woman was. Her back faced the door. Daniel started to turn away, but Cassi pushed the door open.

"Professor Eppes isn't here at the moment. You'll have to come back later."

Cassi's smile widened. Amita turned around with a frown on her face. But her face quickly brightened. "Sandra!" she cried, "what are you doing here? I thought you were in Colorado Spring!"

"I got myself injured again and I decided to stay in LA for a week or so, I want to show Daniel my hometown. Amita, this is Daniel; Daniel, this is Amita." She indicated behind her.

Amita smiled warmly. "I've heard a lot about you. Sandra won't shut up about you."

"Why do you call Cass Sandra?" asked Daniel.

Cassi smiled, "You'd never guess how many people call me by different names." She punched his shoulder lightly.

Amita also smiled, "I already knew a Cassi when I met her, so I decided to call her Sandra."

"And how did you meet."

"A spelling bee when I was younger. Sandra and I sat next to each other. We exchanged information afterwards and kept in contact with each other. When I went to CalSci and met Charlie, I immediately made the connection and I've been keeping an eye on Charlie ever since."

After saying goodbye to Amita, Daniel drove to the FBI office and was about to enter with Cassi, but his cell rang and he waved her a head of her.

After Cassi got her visitor's pass, she walked up to Don's office, and saw Colby facing away from her and hobbled up behind him. She playfully smiled and yelled, "BOO!"

Colby jumped, then smiled, "Well, only one person does that to me, and that would be Cassandra Eppes." He turned around and stood up to hug her. "It's been way too long Cass."

"Daniel says hey, so does Sam and Jack is getting into trouble in Washington D.C." said Cassi.

Colby smiled, "Ah, the days at the Colorado Spring Air Force Base, what adventures we had there."

"The team really misses you, your replacement, Alex Goldman, is nothing compared to you, you sure you won't reconsider coming back?" asked Cassi.

Colby shook his head, "I've had too many injuries, too many stories of near death experiences."

Cassi smiled, "but that's the fun of it silly!"

Don Eppes entered the office and called, "Colby, did the ME's office call yet

"Not yet Don." Colby called back.

Don caught sight of his sister, stood staring at her for a full minute. "Do you know each other?" he asked weakly.

They both shared a smirk, "Afghanistan, plus we were stationed in Colorado Springs for a while together."

Don gave Cassi a questioning look. Cassi explained, "We met in training, then were shipped off to Afghanistan together. After our tour ended, we were looking for jobs, all we could find were desk jobs, and then we were more or less pulled into a really cool job in Colorado Springs."

"What did you do?" asked Don.

"Ummm…. I translate Russian and Chinese and Spanish languages if we intercept them on our radios, I am also working on a handheld computer that will translate things for troops."

Colby looked uncomfortable, "I, ummm, guarded the door. So Cass, how's Janet the war monger doing?"

Cassi bit her lip and teared up. "Nobody told you did they?"

Colby shook his head. "What happened?" he asked in a warning voice.

"She, um, died in combat. We were taking fire and she went to save a soldier. She was hit in the back and died instantly.

Colby sighed. The world really was amazing, but more people than anyone could ever imagine had died for it, had died because of it.

_What the hell are they fighting?_ Thought Don, _"And what's so classified about Cassi's work. I looked up the base on the internet and it said that they did deep space telemetry._

Daniel saw a red-haired woman come around the corner. "Meg? How are you?"

Megan Reeves dropped the box of files. "How? But – you died didn't you?"

Cassi laughed heartily and Daniel smiled. "I was MIA… most people assumed that I was dead, but I really wasn't." Colby, Cassi, and Daniel all shared a secret smile.

Soon after, Cass convinced Daniel to go home, for the next thing she had to do alone. She took a deep breath as she stared up at her childhood home. The lights were on and she knew that all three Eppes men were home, probably eating dinner.

She knocked and there was shouting. A red-haired man answered the door. "Yes?" he inquired, "may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Charlie." She said.

"I'm sorry," the man said. She didn't trust him at all. "he's busy with something."

"Where is he?"

The man grinned, "He doesn't want to be disturbed." Cassi was on edge as it was. In a trice she had the man on the floor, her knife out.

"Tell me what you've done to my brother and I may let you live." She snarled.

"Cassi!" shouted Don. "What the hell do you think you're doing to Larry?"

"Larry?" she said, getting up. She stared down at the man, who looked terrified.

"He works with Charlie at CalSci."

Cassi's eyes grew big and wide. "I am so sorry, you see, I'm Black Ops, and when you said that Charlie was busy, I thought you were some robber person trying to kill my family. Daniel says I'm punchy."

A new voice joined them. "Donny? Who's at the door?" Cassi stiffened.

"I didn't think he'd be home." Cassi said.

Don closed his eyes for a moment. "You have to make up sometime." He said tentively.

"No I don't. I've gotten on fine without doing so for the past eighteen years and now I will continue to not do so."

"Am I missing something?" questioned Larry. "Don, who is this woman and why did she think I was a threat to Charlie.

Don helped Larry up slowly. "Larry, this is my sister, Cassandra." Cassi cleared her throat authoritatively, "fine, she only answers to Cassi or some other shortened form of her full name."

"Don, who's out there?" her father called. Footsteps were heard. The old man came into the room and Cassi looked away angrily.

"I only came for my stuff." She said sharply. "I'm not looking for a place to stay."

Alan looked hurt. "Would you like some dinner?" He asked softly.

Cassi shook her head. "I have a flight back home in a couple hours. I only came to pack up my stuff. Do I owe you anything for storage?"

"Cass…" Don started.

"Don't call me that." Cassi snapped, "my family calls me that. And my family is back in Colorado."

She ran up the stairs. Don started after her. "Don." Came Alan's voice, more tired and old than Don had ever heard it. "Leave her be, she doesn't want us right now."

"But Dad…"

"Don, you've got to understand that some things can never be fixed by words. This is one of those things. Too many things have been said, and too many bridges have been burned, on all sides."

Upstairs, Cassi was mesmerized by the state of her room. It was exactly how she had left it, but looked carefully cared after. She looked at the books that lined her walls. _Como Agua Para Chocolate, Les Miserables, Don Quixote,_ all in their original languages, books on culture and grammer, vocabulary and society. Encyclopedias that she had long forgotten about to history books she had bought copies of and used every day. She missed the titles and feels of the bindings, the memories of where she went on such adventures.

Cassi sighed sadly and started to pack.


	2. Love me for my secret keeping

So, three people (luvnumb3rs, Timespirt, and Zeldaxex) caught something that I was hoping people would catch.

If this story seems familiar, than you are correct… About a year ago I started writing the Genius Series, but I didn't like how it was going, so I rewrote it… but I lost the end of the story transferring data to a new computer and I didn't like the numb3rs season finale, so I decided to rewrite it to some extent. It's going to be different. I've written Cassi very different and a lot angrier than before.

The song is by Switchfoot…

That night, she caught a tearful flight back to Colorado Springs, arriving around 2300 hours. She couldn't believe how much of Don and Charlie's lives that she had missed while she had been in Europe

_Perfect_, she thought, _nobody will be around to see me cry._

She called a cab and got to the base just before midnight chimed. She signed in, and then hobbled down to her lab, using the cane she purchased at the hospital, expecting to find it empty. She had wanted to bury herself in her work, ignoring the pain that left a strange aching feeling in her heart. But Daniel was there.

She bit her lip, trying to will herself not to cry, but Daniel looked up. She sobbed as she walked toward him, tears streaming down her face. "He didn't tell them. Somehow he couldn't tell them. Why can't he tell them that he made a mistake? What does it matter?"

Daniel rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her gently as he led her over to their chairs. Her's was slightly covered in dust from her absence, but right now she didn't mind, she just wanted to be held.

"What's wrong Cass? Please tell me what happened."

Cassi hiccupped. "I can't believe how much I've missed. Charlie's so amazing and smart, Don's in the FBI and Charlie's helping him out now. They're both so old and are in relationships. Dad's given up on me. He doesn't want to here about my life anymore. Some wound run too deep. I know it's hard, but I want you to call them if something happens to me. God knows this job makes it easy enough."

Daniel nodded, understanding her position. Only if there seemed like there was no hope, only then would Alan Eppes know how much Daniel loved his daughter. Only when it seemed like she was lost from him forever.

After Cassi had left to get some sleep in her quarters, Daniel took out the small velvet box that he had bought some time ago. Later, he would give it too her later when she wasn't as upset. Daniel stared at the box as he remembered the first time Cassandra had chosen to take a big step in showing him how much she cared for him, just after Sha're died.

Flashback –

Daniel had been released from the infirmary, but he still wasn't back to normal yet, he was still mourning Sha're. He went back to his lab, knowing that a pile of translations had to be finished. A pile of papers with Cassi's handwriting was in Daniels 'out' box, with a note in the 'in' box.

'Daniel,

I know how much Sha're meant to you, keep her memory dear, but she would have wanted you to move on. 'Don't be swallowed in your sorrow,' my father used to say. And also don't live in a town where there are no doctors. That's a Jewish proverb my mother used to tell me. Remember Daniel, just because you're healed physically doesn't mean you've healed mentally. I'm here if you need to talk, I mean we do speak about a hundred languages between us.

Cass.'

When Daniel felt like talking, Cass was there, as promised. She listened to him, as he expressed the confusion, sorrow, anger, and pain that he felt. He was so torn between being grateful of Amonet's death and being mournful of Sha're's. After almost a year of talking together almost nightly over the translations they had to finish, Daniel decided to take her out, on a date. For the first five minutes he worried whether he would be dishonoring Sha're's memory in doing this, and then Cass opened up to news that she had never expected. It brought them closer together then any two members of SG-1 ever had been.

"I, um, get the LA times every day, to check up on my family," Cass shrugged, starting out awkwardly, "you know. Well, um, I opened up today's paper and --" Cassi cut off, her shoulders shaking; her head buried in her sobs. She couldn't speak; she could simply pull out a newspaper cut out and hand it to him.

Daniel looked at the cut out. "Margaret Eppes, mother of Donald and Charles Eppes and wife of Alan Eppes died yesterday, April 12th, of cancer. Her memorial service will be at First Baptist Church in L.A. on April 16th."

Cass looked up, her face full of hatred. "He didn't even acknowledge that I was their daughter, they just acted like I didn't exist, like all the years I lived there I was some weird neighbor that hung out with Charlie. They didn't even tell me she was sick."

Daniel didn't know what to do, so he hugged her and he let her let it all out. "I want to go." She sobbed. "I want to go but I'm not strong enough. I can lead the second-in-command flagship team, I can fight the Gou'ald, and I can speak and write in over 50 languages, but this, this one thing I can't do.

Daniel didn't know what to say at first, but then he thought of the perfect thing. "Would you like me to go with you?"

Cass looked up, "would you?"

Daniel rubbed her shoulder. "In a heartbeat Cass, in a heartbeat." That's when he realized that he loved her.

Daniel quietly asked General Hammond for a few days leave for the two of them the next day. General Hammond understood Cassi's situation and readily agreed to let Cassi and Daniel go. In the meantime, SG-1 and SG-2 would get some downtime.

Daniel and Cassi flew out the next day, the 15th, and quietly checked into a nearby hotel. They went to the funeral the next day, sitting in the back. Cassi kept her head down, so afraid that someone would recognize her, someone would tell Don, Charlie, and her father that they were there, trying to be discrete.

After the ceremony ended, they were just about to slip out, past the family, Cassi looking down, praying she wouldn't be recognized. But she was recognized. By Charlie.

"Cassi? Cassi is that you?" he asked her, pulling up her chin so he could see her face. "It _is_ you! Don, Dad, Cassi's here!" Both Don and Alan looked shocked. "Why didn't you sit with us Cass?"

Cassi stared at the man who used to be her father. She stood in front of him and muttered very softly, but then quickly escalated her voice. "You never told me, you never told me she was sick, never told me she had cancer. WHY? She was my mother! I have the right to sit shivah with the rest of you! I have the right to be acknowledged in the paper, but you," she pointed at her father, "you're too wound up in your pride to respect me, your too wound up about everything between us to recognize that I used to love you, I tried to love you, even when you didn't love me!" She then turned on her heel and, followed by a shocked Daniel, left.

They never heard from them again. Daniel tried to get Cassi to talk, but she refused. Slowly she came out of her shell and they talked about it for a long time. There was a closeness between them that Daniel had never felt with his team.

End Flashback –

A week later, Daniel had every detail planned. The SFs knew what to do. Sam was going to coax Cassi into the commissionary, Jack was going to lay on a few of his one liners, Teal'c was going to ask how Cassi was doing, then Daniel was going to come over with the Jell-O. It had taken him weeks to figure it out.

She always had blue Jell-O in the presence of SG-1, so for years Daniel could never guess what was her favorite flavor. He got lucky. Some of her girlfriends from SG-8 and SG-22, he was walking by the commissionary when he saw her, eating green Jell-O, he brought the subject up later and she admitted that it was her favorite, she just ate the blue stuff to humor Jack.

"Hey Cass, SG-1 is planning on having an all you can eat Jell-O fest with SG-2, do you want to come? Cassi looked up from her work. She thought for a moment, cocking her head slightly to the side like a dog would.

"Alright, this translation can wait a few hours. Just for the love of god, promise me there will be no Jell-O fights, I had garbage duty for a week last time, all because of Jack."

Sam smiled, "I promise." As they headed up, she winked at the SF behind Cassi's back. The plan was set in motion.

Major Maggie Hauffman, Cassi's 2IC was sitting with her team, quietly chatting about their next mission. They knew they'd be going. It was their last mission before SG-1 broke apart, it wasn't a dangerous mission, but they knew General Laundry would let them tag along one more time, hell he was going, why couldn't they?

It was the last day where General Laundry and General O'Neill would be sharing command. On General Laundry's first day, he flew out to California to see Colonel Eppes in the hospital because there had been a crisis on the base. It was a day that

Cassi walked in and Hauffman, along with her two other team members Alex Johnson and Mark Goldman, stood up and saluted her. Cassi smirked, "for the last time you guys, when we're on down time you don't have to salute me. At ease."

Maggie looked at her CO, "so, Colonel, are you ready to go off-world on the send off mission of SG-1?"

Cassi nodded, "Yeah, though I can't wait to go to Atlantis and be able to head a new team. I'm gonna miss you guys, but I hear Atlantis needs some short females to kick Rodney's butt. I leave in a week you know, and half my stuff that I want to bring along is still in my room in California. I'm gonna ask Granger to convince Don to get my stuff for me, you know, really empty out my room."

Maggie nodded, a single tear rolled down her cheek, "Girl, I'm gonna miss you."

"I know, I wish you were all coming with us."

Daniel walked up with the Jell-O. "Hey Cass." He said as he set down the tray. There were seven blue and one green. Cass reached for a blue glass automatically, but Daniel stopped her hand. "Oh no missy, I found out that lime was your favorite flavor. That one's yours."

Cassi grabbed the green glass with a "you've-found-me-out" smirk at Daniel, and grabbed a spoon to dig in. There was a glint of something metal in her Jell-O. It was a ring. A diamond ring. "Daniel what – is this what I think it is?"

Daniel got down on one knee. "Cass, you are the most amazing person I've ever met. You're a genius and you embraced that part about you, but you never settled for what was easy, for what you were good at. You are the bravest solider I've ever known to go out there and fight when you don't have to. I love you because you value bravery, because you stuck by me when I died, you waited for me. Cass will you marry me?"

Cassi looked down at the whipped crème covered ring, she looked as if she were about to cry. She handed Daniel back the ring. Everyone gasped. After a very long silence Cassi spoke, "of course I'll marry you!" The clapping could be heard all over the base as the two embraced in a passionate kiss. It wasn't every day that someone proposed at the SGC.

After the group finished their Jell-O, they suited up, preparing for Jack's order to go on the last mission they'd ever go on together. Jack was being transferred the next week, Sam would then go to Area 51, Teal'c was going to Chulak, and Daniel and Cassi were to be married on Atlantis.

General Laundry smiled from the control room. The first day of full command of the SGC. "SG units 1 and 2, you have a go," he said.

The two teams moved out, first Jack and Sam, than Teal'c and Daniel. Closely followed, following suite were Cassi and Maggie, than Mark and Alex. Mark and Alex were talking about some hockey game that was on TV last night; Sam kept glancing between Cassi's ring and Jack. Maggie kept cooing over it as if it were a baby. If Cassi found any of these things annoying, she was oblivious to them now. Engaged. She was engaged. She was going to become Mrs. Daniel Jackson. Cassandra Jackson, she loved the sound of that. Colonel Cassandra Jackson. She felt like a new person, almost as if this were all a dream.

The mission was fine, they were merely checking up on the people of the light, making sure they were okay. It was normally something that SG-14 or SG-26 would do, but it was nice to not do something dangerous for once. It was a check in, nothing more. It felt odd as SG-1 stepped through the gate, nothing had gone wrong at all. Mark and Alex stepped through still talking about the game. She and Maggie were about to step through when she noticed her shoelace was untied.

"You go ahead Maggie, I'll catch up."

Maggie nodded and stepped through the gate. Cassi bent down, tied her shoe and hurried through the event horizon. When she came out on the other side, she knew something was wrong, something was very, very wrong.

General Hammond stood in the control room, with twenty plus guards crouched at the end of the ramp, guns drawn.

"Major, where's the rest of SG-2?" Rang General Hammond's voice as he leaned into the microphone.

"They went through before me with SG-1? What's going on? Where's General Landry, he's in command of this base, isn't he?"

Hammond's face suddenly changed. She was delusional! "Medical team to the gate room, now, SG-1 your presence is requested in the gate room." The gunmen raised their AK's menacingly. She could be a Gou'ald. "Who are you?" he asked.

Cassi was confused. He knew who she was. "I'm Colonel Cassandra Eppes sir, you know me, you've been basically my father for the past eight years."

Everyone looked shocked at this, General Hammond looked confused. He knew _Major _Cassandra Eppes well, but not that well.

"I am who I say I am!" Jack jogged into the gate room followed by Sam. "Jack, what the hell is going on? I tie my shoe for two seconds and now their saying I'm a Major. Next you'll be saying that Daniel and I aren't engaged!"

Jack's eyebrow's met, "Cassi, we're married. We've been married for a year.

Janet Frasier then came in, closely followed by her brother, Don. Cassi's eyes bugged. "J-Janet? Janet is that you?"

Janet was holding a syringe; Cassi backed up. "Cassi, it's going to be okay, nobody's going to hurt you." Said Janet in a calm voice. Cassi turned and started back up the ramp, not really sure where she was going. She turned around, "No, this isn't real. Janet, you're dead! And Don doesn't have clearance; I wasn't even talking to him until a few weeks ago. How can this be real? This can't be real."

Don had a worried look on his face. "Cassi, I've been a part of this program for two years."

Cassi shook her head. "No, this is a nightmare, this has to be a nightmare." Janet took a step forward and Cassi drew her side arm. Janet motioned for the SFs not to hurt her. "You're Gou'ald. You're messing with my head. Get away from me. Janet lunged for her and Cassi took a side step. She then looked down and saw the needle sticking out of her leg. She looked up and said, "I won't tell you anything." With that she dropped to the floor and descended into darkness.

--

When Cassi woke up, it took her a moment to realize that she was in restraints. Her first thoughts were, _what the hell happened? I dreamed Janet was alive and Don worked for the SGC._ Somebody's hand was stroking her forehead. "Daniel?" she asked, opening her eyes. To her shock, there sat her father, stroking her hair absent-mindedly. He looked down at her, and she broke out of her train of thought and strained against the restraints.

"Get the hell away from me. You aren't my father. My father's at home in California, so I don't know why you're trying to trick me!"

Her father took a step back, than called a nurse to go get Dr. Frasier. She came rushing over. "Alan, leave for now, she isn't from here, she doesn't understand. She's probably really confused." Her father left, looking defeated. Dr. Frasier turned to Cassi, had a look of bitter hatred on her face.

Janet smiled at her; Cassi missed that smile, the smile of her best friend. Janet spoke, "I bet you are really confused about what's going on here." Cassi pulled on her restraints. "You're from an alternate reality."

Cassi wasn't looking "I don't believe you. The Gou'ald have tried to pull that on us before. I'm not giving you information about anything."

Janet looked sadly at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "What happened to you?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"Please tell me."

"No."

"Please."

But Cassi met her plea with silence. This wasn't Janet. This was all a trick to try and get information out of her. She wouldn't cop, no matter what the enemy did. SG-1 would find her and take her home.

Meanwhile – Back in our Reality

"Wormhole Disengaged"

"What!" said Daniel, "why didn't Cass make it through? Dial the planet again." _Please_, he thought desperately, _please don't let her be in the wormhole when it disengaged._

The gate dialed and SG-1 went through, Jack included. They searched within a fifty-meter radius within the Stargate; in fact they searched the gate area and found a set of her footprints in the mud. They saw where she had knelt down to tie her shoe. The area around that was footprint free. It was as if she simply disappeared.

Jack tried to smile, "we'll find her Daniel" he tried to reassure his best friend. But how does someone just disappear?

– Unkown

Cassi's arm restraints had been released, though an SF was guarding her at all times. Soon Jack came by.

"I brought you something." He said softly. He pulled out her guitar. No, a guitar, but it wasn't her's. It didn't have the scratch in it from when Jack started playing with it two years ago, or the dent where she dropped it the first time Daniel kissed her. Cassi said nothing.

"Cass…" He said softly. She looked up sharply and glared at him. Only Daniel could call her that. "It makes sense, Cass. SG-2 has been recalled, apparently Major Cassandra Eppes is still with them. Daniel died two years ago, saving Janet off-world." He touched her and she shrugged him off. "Cass?"

"You lie!" she sobbed, "it isn't true! I saw Daniel this morning." Jack left in silence. She picked up the guitar.

_Twenty-four oceans, _she sang. The tears streamed freely.

_Twenty-four skies _

_Twenty-four failures _

_And twenty-four tries _

_Twenty-four finds me _

_In twenty-fourth place _

_With twenty-four drop outs _

_At the end of the day _

_Life is not what I thought it was _

_Twenty-four hours ago _

_Still I'm singing 'Spirit, _

_take me up in arms with You' _

_And I'm not who I thought I was _

_Twenty-four hours ago _

_Still I'm singing 'Spirit, _

_take me up in arms with You' _

_There's twenty-four reasons _

_To admit that I'm wrong _

_With all my excuses _

_Still twenty-four strong _

_See, I'm not copping out _

_Not copping out _

_Not copping out _

_When you're raising the dead in me _

_Oh, oh _

_I am the second man _

_Oh, oh _

_I am the second man now _

_Oh, I am the second man now _

_And you're raising these... _

_Twenty-four voices _

_With twenty-four hearts _

_All of my symphonies _

_In twenty-four parts _

_But I want to be one today _

_Centered and true _

_I'm singing 'Spirit take me up in arms with You' _

_You're raising the dead in me _

_Oh, oh _

_I am the second man _

_Oh, oh _

_I am the second man now _

_Oh _

_I am the second man now _

_And you're raising the dead in me _

_Yeah _

_I wanna see miracles _

_To see the world change _

_Wrestled the angel for more than a name _

_For more than a feeling _

_For more than a cause _

_I'm singing 'Spirit, take me up in arms with You' _

_And you're raising the dead in me _

_Twenty-four oceans _

_With twenty-four hearts _

_All of my symphonies _

_With twenty-four parts _

_Life is not what I thought it was _

_Twenty-four hours ago _

_Still I'm singing 'Spirit, _

_take me up in arms with You' _

_I'm not copping out _

_Not copping out _

– In L.A.

Charlie was getting frustrated. Cassi wasn't responding to e-mail or phone. She was either ignoring them or she had been deployed somewhere, but he couldn't understand it. It seemed that the two of them were finally starting to talk, finally starting to have some connection. Charlie sighed and dialed Don's number.

"Eppes" Don answered.

"Don, this is Charlie. I need to know something." Said Charlie

"Sure what?"

"Has Cassi contacted you in the last week?"

"No, I was just wondering about that."

"Because she hasn't contacted me either, and nobody's answering the phone."

"Give her time Charlie, Dad probably scared her off a little."

"Okay, bye"

Charlie sighed again as he put down the receiver.

Alternate Reality –

"So what's it like in your world." Asked Major Eppes

Cassi shrugged. She didn't care what they did. They were trying to trick her, trying to get information.

Major Eppes shook her head. "Remember Jimmy, the guy I – we, had a crush on in tenth grade?"

Cassi looked up. The Gou'ald didn't know about that. Why would they need to? "Yeah?"

"Did you go to the reunion?" Cassi shook her head.

Major Eppes grinned. "He's a car dealer." Both cracked up._ Maybe_ Cassi thought, _maybe this really is another reality._

Canon Reality

"I don't know," said General Landry, "it gets sticky with the fact that he knows Colonel Eppes."

"General, we need to figure out where Cass went, this man can figure out if she's been kidnapped, in a different reality, another dimension, if she just has amnesia on another planet. The man's a genius."

"Alright," said the general, "I'll give the President my recommendation."

20 minutes later –

"The President is giving his consent, Dr. Jackson, I'm assigning you to go get him." Daniel nodded. Charles Eppes would be finding out Cassi's secret.

Sam interjected, "If it's alright sir, I'd like to tag along too, I mean, I'd rather spend my last day at the SGC doing something and not just hanging around."

General Laundry nodded, "Permission granted."

Later, in LA –

Larry and Charlie were having lunch in the student quad.

"Does Don have any new cases for you?" asked Larry.

Charlie shook his head, "No, why do you ask."

"You seem distracted Charles."

"My sister was calling and e-mailing us frequently, than she just stopped. I don't understand it."

"Ah, the human psyche. The human brain is a amazing thing."

A limo drove up in front of their park bench with US flags perched on the hood. Both men frowned at it as a sunglassed man stepped out and approached the pair. "Charles Eppes?" said the man.

Charlie nodded, wiping his hand off before shaking the man's hand. "Can I help you?" asked Charlie.

The man nodded, "My name is Major Davis. We were wondering if you'd be willing to take a few days off from CalSci and come with us to Colorado Springs. There's been a – situation that needs your expertise."

Charlie worriedly asked, "What kind of situation? Does this have something to do with my sister? She's stationed in Colorado Springs."

Major Davis remained unsmiling, "Actually, this has everything to do with your sister. We desperately need your help. We will, of course, talk to the administration about sending a substitute for your classes."

Charlie nodded, "Larry, get Amita to teach my classes for the next few days, alright? Major Davis, is there time for me to go home and get some clothes? Maybe tell my father where I'm going?"

Major Davis nodded, "As long as your quick, our flight leaves at 1400 hours."

Charlie looked at his watch. That would give him a half hour to pack. "Alright," he said, "let's do this." He got in the limo, but it wasn't empty like he was expecting it to be. There was a blond woman inside, and a man who seemed strangely familiar.

Charlie pointed at the man, finally placing him in his memory. "You! You went with Cassi to our mother's funeral."

The man nodded and extended his hand. "I'm Daniel Jackson, I have worked – very closely with your sister for the past eight years. She's very gifted, and so are you."

Charlie turned to the woman, "and you are?"

"Dr. Samantha Carter, I worked with your sister too, though not as closely. I specialize in astrophysics."

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Are you both military?"

Daniel shook his head, "I'm one of the civilians who works on the base. Sam is one of our few brilliant military scientists."

Charlie looked out the window and realized they were going in the direction of his house. "You know where I live? The Air Force is a seriously stalker-ish branch of the government."

Sam smiled; Charlie was so like his big sister in the smallest ways.

They pulled up to Charlie's house and he was about to get out when Daniel stopped him. "Charlie, don't tell your father this has anything to do with your sister or the US Air Force."

"Why not?" Charlie questioned, everyone was so mysterious about his father's relationship with his sister.

"They have a history, it really isn't our place to discuss it, but Cassi won't even talk to her father yet. Your father is not a bad man and he hasn't done anything wrong, I assure you.

Charlie nodded, than he got out and entered his house. "Charlie? What are you doing back so soon?"

Heeding Daniel's words, Charlie lied through his teeth. "Didn't I tell you?" he said, "I have a conference in Colorado Springs for a few days."

Alan was slightly surprised; Charlie was usually on top of these things. "Alright."

Charlie packed his suitcase in ten minutes, grabbed backpack, and headed out the door.

He got back in the limo, and Daniel and Sam were waiting for him, with a clipboard.

Daniel handed it to him saying, "This is the standard release form, you won't tell anyone about what you discover in Colorado Springs yada, yada, yada."

Charlie nodded and signed without hesitation, he had signed a whole bunch of these working for the NSA.

He handed back the clipboard and now Sam opened her mouth. "What we're about to tell you is top secret and we could have you jailed for exposing it, it's happened before, don't try it. You're sister lied to you, or withheld the truth. We work for a branch of the Air Force called the SGC. American archeologists in Gyza, Egypt discovered a big stone circle. We discovered ten years ago that it could be used to travel to other planets using a controlled wormhole. For the past nine years, we have been using it to fight an enemy called the Gou'ald, which are a parasitic race that take over the human mind."

Charlie looked at Sam and laughed, "are you kidding me? This was the big classified project that Cassi's been working on? Why was she in California?"

Daniel answered, "There are organizations who try to make it to other worlds and steal things for the advantage of earth. They are called the Trust. Recently, the Trust stole some of Cassi's research, and being Cassi, she refused to stop for hell or high water to get it back. We spread the rumor that the owner of the house was kidnapping people so they'd stay away, unfortunately, it was reported to the FBI, and your brother discovered Cassi fighting the owner." Charlie was speechless.


	3. Keeping Secrets Has It's Problems

Charlie was silent during the plane ride to Colorado Springs. Of all the things he had done for his country with the NSA or FBI was nothing compared to what Cassi had been doing. Every week she risked her life against these aliens, every week she risked dying. His life was nothing compared to this. He saw that when Cassi's name was spoken, everyone's eyes shone with respect, from the plane personnel to the higher ups like Major Davis.

He looked at Daniel; he was working on some translation, he couldn't really read it, but it looked Egyptian. "What did Cassi do? I mean, everyone seems to really respect her, I never noticed it before but Colby Granger, who works with Don, seemed to really respect her when she was visiting us."

Daniel sighed and looked up from his translation. "About five years ago, we were on a planet when we were attacked by the Gou'ald…."

Flashback –

SG-1 was pinned down; they were 50 meters from the gate and had four super soldiers attacking them. They were using some boulders for cover, but those weren't helping much. They'd be lucky if one of them got through the gate. Cassi had come with to translate some ruins with Daniel – her ancient was a lot better than his at this point, she went back because she forgot some of her gear, and as she got to the top of the hill near the gate, she saw the super soldiers. She made a quick decision. They were worth more than she was. She prayed her plan would work, and ran down the hill.

"Hey bozos over here!" She yelled

Daniel closed his eyes, Cassi wasn't thinking of doing _that_.

"You heard me," Daniel heard her say, "Over here!"

The super soldiers turned and walked toward her. They began to shoot. The first two shots missed, the third struck her leg. She was clearly in pain, but Cassi held her ground. Sam, Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel got up and started shooting the super soldiers. The first two fell. Cassi was struck again, this time in the arm. She kept standing where she was, no longer able to defend herself. The third went down. The fourth fired two shots, then it went down. But the two shot went straight and true. The first hit her in the stomach, the second in the head.

Daniel got up and raced to her, "Cassi don't die on me!" Her breathing was labored.

She looked up at him, "I love you Daniel." She then passed out.

"Teal'c dial the gate! Tell Hammond that Janet needs to get in the gate room now!" 

It seemed an eternity for Daniel. Moments ticked by. The iris undid itself. Daniel tried to lift Cassi, but he found Jack soon stepped in to carry her. Daniel found himself being led through the gate by Sam. She couldn't die. Not now.

They got to Earth in a split second. Janet was there. "What happened?"

Jack looked like he might actually cry. "There were four super soldiers pinning us down. Cassi went back to get some equipment and saw the super soldiers. She drew them off long enough for us to shoot them down, but she got shot in the leg, the arm, the stomach, and the head."

Janet looked worried. "Guys, load her onto the stretcher. We have to get her to the infirmary."

Daniel looked at Janet, "Tell me she's going to be okay."

Janet took Daniel's hand affectionately, "I've got to be honest with you Daniel -- I've never dealt with a head shot before. She should be dead." She then turned to follow the stretcher down the hall to the infirmary.

--

After Cassi had been stabilized, General Hammond ordered a debriefing. She was in a coma, the sweet girl who was so like his daughter to him was in a coma.

"SG-1, what the hell happened?" he asked.

Jack sat up, always quick to respond, "We were headed back to the gate when Cassi suddenly remembered she forgot some equipment back at the dig site, she handed over her P-90, saying she would be very quick and the gun would slow her down. We were waiting by some rocks by the Stargate when four super soldiers came out of the Stargate and started firing on us. Daniel shouted into his radio that Cassi shouldn't follow us, but she didn't listen, she ran from her position and was able to draw off their fire, she had her hand gun, but she was shot in the arm and she dropped it. We shot down three of them and she was hit in the stomach and the head when we struck down the fourth."

-- End of Flashback

"Cassi was in a coma for about a month, and was out of commission for six months after that. During that time two of her team members were killed when we went to visit the Gou'ald Homeworld. She was really depressed for a while; she seemed to think it was her fault. She was promoted from Major to Lt. Col. after she had healed enough to walk, but she sank into a deep depression. She talked to Janet, our CMO, a lot and it helped. Cassi's seen a lot of death and torture of her loved ones. She saw me die and come back, Jack was tortured, Sam was nearly, then Janet died, then I came back. Sam and Jack are relocating and we were going to Atlantis, which is in a far off galaxy, Cassi is heartbroken that her family is going their separate ways." Charlie nearly choked. _Her_ family? What were the Eppes to her if they weren't her family?

By the time Daniel had completed his story, their plane had landed and they were now deep inside the base. Daniel led Charlie into a strange, windowless, stone lab. On a desk marked, "Colonel Cassandra Eppes" were two picture frames. One was the Eppes family, posing for their yearly shot in front of the house almost five weeks before Cassi left. She was smiling, but she didn't look happy. Charlie looked deeper; he saw the look of love on her face as she sat frozen, giving Don a noogie as he objected to the treatment.

The other was of Daniel, Cassi, Sam, an elderly balding man, a middle-aged guy with white hair, a woman in uniform, a woman in a doctor's suit, Colby Granger, and a man he didn't recognize. Charlie turned and looked at Daniel, holding up the picture. "Who are these people?" he asked rather bitterly.

Daniel looked up and smiled, he took the picture, laid it on the desk, and pointed to the balding man. "This is General Hammond, he runs the SGC, Cassi sort of considered him as a father-figure someone she could count on because her father wasn't speaking to her. He shifted his finger to the middle-aged guy, "This is General Jack O'Neill. He led SG-1, while Cassi led SG-2. They were like brother and sister. Cassi was always invited to come to SG-1 movie nights because they clicked the first time they met." He turned to Charlie, "as you will learn later, that's a hard thing to do. Cassi has mentioned Jack reminding her of an older version of her younger brother Don. Something about being smart but not acting it. Any way," he shifted his finger again, this time to the military woman, "this is Major Megan Hauffmann, Cassi's 2IC, that's second in command. They were more or less close, Cassi thought that they were like sisters who got along but had different interests." He pointed to the doctor and sighed, "This is Janet Fraiser, our CMO until a year ago and also Cassi's best friend. She was killed on the battle field and that nearly killed Cassi." He pointed vaguely to the two men. "This is Colby Granger and Mark Goldman. Granger transferred out of here after he nearly lost a leg, Cassi was sorry to see him go, but apparently she sent him to spy on your older brother. You'll meet Sgt. Goldman later."

After Daniel finished his explaining, the middle-aged guy known as Jack popped his head in. "Hey Daniel! Is this Charlie?" Daniel nodded with confirmation.

Jack nodded, "She's a good solider, your sister. Never thought that my first impression of someone would be wrong, but I was wrong about her. Thought she was a geek, like you and Daniel, but she never expected anybody to rely on her smartness. She's frickin' brave, strong, and a good fighter. Plus she's the only chick I know who play's broomball on a regular basis."

Charlie looked at Daniel, "Broomball?" he asked confusedly.

Daniel nodded. "The Air Force has a network of teams, and this base has their own. Eight players on each team played like hockey except with sneakers. Jack's the captain of our team."

Charlie's eyebrow's raised. "What else don't I know about her?"

Daniel shrugged. "She knows give or take a hundred languages and dialects, 30 of those she knows fluently, and she's normally the international representative of the SGC, since she's more of a people person then I am. And it's a plus that she hasn't died as often."

Jack looked bemused. "She's engaged to Daniel," he said.

Charlie gasped at that one. "She's engaged… and she didn't tell us.

Daniel shook his head. "It happened the day she disappeared, it isn't like she had time to e-mail anybody before we were shipped off. What do you want to know? I know almost everything about her and if I don't know then I know who does."

"What does she do on the weekends?" asked Charlie after a pregnant pause.

"Usually we watch the Simpson's, or some type of movie marathon. She heads the betting pool around here. It holds everything from what team is going to get the next injury to when the next attack on Earth is going to be."

"There are attacks on earth?" Charlie was flabbergasted.

Daniel nodded, "Remember a couple years ago there was that meteor shower?" Charlie nodded. "That was an attack on Earth. But back to Cass, she sometimes she curls up with a book. She and another guy have this bet on who can finish War and Peace the fastest."

Charlie nodded, "she always loved to read. I think my parents first got a hint that she was smart when she started reading one of Dad's old Spanish books."

"When was this?" asked Daniel.

"I think she was four or five." The group laughed.

An hour later a big black guy popped his head in and Charlie was shocked to learn that he was an alien. He certainly didn't look like one. It made him question who else was posing as a human here, and was not encouraged by the smile the three shared.

He spent a while sifting through Cassi's things, looking at pictures and e-mails that Daniel had given him permission to look at. A couple shocked him.

_Dear Colby,_ one read.

Everybody here misses you, even Jack to some extent. I can't believe that everyone's dead. I understand why you transferred and I hardly blame you, but I wish you were here. I'm sitting up now. Janet says that I still can't work, but this doesn't count. Besides, you'd never tell her anyway. Is your new post as exciting and interesting as your old one? I bet you $50 it isn't. Go to college; get a good education, like my brothers. I can't believe I'm telling you to follow that path, but I am. I'm still earning my masters in my spare time. I've decided on Linguistics. Hopefully I can get a Ph.D. by the time Charlie gets a job teaching… but that wouldn't be fair to me, now would it.

_Lots of Love,_

_Cass_

Another was a lot more interesting to Charlie.

_Dear Colbs,_

_I hear that you're new boss is none other then my dear baby brother, Don. Try to wipe all the embarrassing stories that I told you from your mind. Yes, the one about the swim trunks too. I don't think my brother would ever forgive me if he found out I told you about that. I earned my Ph.D., so if Daniel ever gets up the nerve to ask me the "Big" question, we will be Drs. Daniel and Cassandra Jackson, just like Daniel's parents. I'm sure you heard about the little incident here at the base, well, you heard about it in that really subtle way when you here there's a meteor shower causing damage on the news. Yeah, that was us. Big things have been happening, like the fact that we found IT. _At this point, Charlie did not understand what "it" was, but he continued reading. _I miss you a lot. It seems an eternity since I was chained to the infirmary bed. Jack says that I'm due. I go there almost as often as Daniel, probably would go more, but I don't complain about some of the smaller injuries. I'd rather deal with it on my own._

_Lots of Love,_

_Cass._

An hour later, Charlie was shuttled up to a large meeting area. Jack went up to the front of the room and Daniel and Charlie took a seat in the back with the other members of SG-1 that Daniel introduced. Sam, Charlie thought, was very pretty, and he could hardly believe her field, and Teal'c, well he was just strange. When some fifty people hand sat down, Jack called everyone to attention.

"The first thing that I have to say that is we aren't giving up on Cassi. We're gonna bring her home, wherever she is. But due to regs, we have to declare her MIA – assumed dead." The announcement was met with total silence. Nobody thought it would ever come. They should have found her by now, or at least gotten word. "It's been two weeks. I tried to delay it as long as I could." Jack pulled out a piece of paper. "As you all know, I'm not very good at making speeches. Cassi recognized this and wrote her own in the event of her being AD." Jack cleared his throat.

"My name is Colonel Cassandra Eppes and if you are reading this, I'm going to assume that I've been declared AD. If you are listening to this, then you know me in some very close. I would like to thank you all for such an amazing adventure that the stargate program has given me. I know many people who would be jealous of the life that we all have. We live what most would consider that of Science Fiction and we've all experienced what it feels like to lay your life on the line for the Galaxy. Thank you for the amazing chance at such a abnormal life."

Jack got down from the podium and went to the back and sat down next to Charlie. A woman with curly red hair stepped up to the podium. She began talking about what she knew of Cassi's life. Charlie was amazed at how many people seemed determined to not give up on Cassi, wherever she was.

--

Meanwhile, Don sat where he always sat on Saturday afternoon, in his shrink's office, though his mind was on Charlie and Cassi. Cassi had been missing for two weeks, Charlie had said, she was assumed dead.

"So, Don, what's on your mind this week?" he asked.

"My sister." Was all Don could manage out.

Dr. Bradford's eyebrows met at the center of his forehead. "I've never heard you mention a sister before." He said questioningly.

Don rubbed his own forehead. "She isn't much a part of the family anymore. Dad and Cassi never really got along and she chose an… un-approved road for her life. I haven't seen her since the day before she took off for boot camp.

Flashback –

Don was preparing for the finals with his team in the summer league. He knew nobody was going to show up. Charlie had dragged Mom and Dad off to some seminar about something Don didn't understand and Cassi was god knows where. They barely saw her anymore. Each morning there was a fresh note on the fridge that she had already gone out, she came back at noon to grab lunch and her backpack and then left again, not returning until late evening. She had been doing it for months. His dad was so worried about her he even called the school to confirm that she was attending classes. She was, and was acing all of them. She said that she was working on an extra project of some kind, but nobody knew what. She didn't show up for graduation, didn't go to prom, and claimed that she was too "busy" to do all of these things.

Don took a couple practice swings before stepping out into the stadium. It was his junior year and this was his last game of the season. What did he care that his family didn't show up to the most important game of the season. Today, this was all for him.

It wasn't until the eighth inning that he saw her. She had brought her laptop, but every time he came to bat or was in the outfield, she'd set it down and watch him. He was shocked to see her there, especially since he had hardly seen her at all in the past few months. As their eyes met she grinned broadly and genuinely and waved at him. It was the best moment of his day -- past his team winning a no-hitter over the opposing team, past his first Grand Slam, it was that moment that made his day.

After the game, the crowd rushed onto the field to congratulate their loved ones. Cassi ran up to him and nearly bowled him over with a big hug. "Great game." She said over the crowd.

He smiled. "What are you doing here, Cassi?"

She smiled again. "What do you mean, it's the biggest game of the season, I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"But Graduation… and Prom?"

"Those don't matter to me. It's just a formality. None of my friends went, so why should I? I do what I want now. Who cares about what everyone else thinks."

"But you received high honors in Linguistics and Foreign Languages!" Don shouted over the dull roar.

Cassi shook her head slowly and started to walk away from him, away from the crowds. When Don caught up with her, he could see she was crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked, touching her arm. They had cleared the crowd and were standing by the Eppes car that Don had borrowed to get to the game.

"What's wrong?" Cassi repeated quietly, "what's wrong is that nobody can look at me and see past what I have a natural gift for. They can't see what I want, only what I have. What's wrong is that everybody sees the languages that I can translate, but nothing else. They can't see who I'm striving to be."

-- End Flashback

Don sighed. "The next day, she told mom and dad that she had enlisted in the Air Force and she was moving out. I saw her briefly a couple months ago, she had changed so much from the Cassi that I had known, and now she's been assumed dead."

"Why haven't you tried to contact her before this?"

Don was silent for a long time. "I mean, Cass was always the one who was aggressive. She wanted to do something more than this life."

"What life do you mean?"

"I mean, Cassi was the only one who managed to escape this town, this world. Charlie took a job at CalSci, I transferred to L.A. F.B.I., Cassi's the only one who actually left this town, Cassi's the only one who hasn't been to our childhood home in the past two weeks."

"You think that's a good thing?"

Don shook his head. "Cassi hasn't talked to any of us in the past. And however I feel about Charlie being a shadow over me or the fact that I spend a lot of time with him and Dad, I don't get to see her, ever."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"About… a month ago. She was working an op in a house in south Cal…they told the neighbors some line about a kidnapper as a cover-up, but somebody reported it to us and we stormed in. She got injured in the scuffle. Before that she had just told my parents she had joined the Air Force."

"What does she do?"

"That's the weird thing… I don't know. Everything she works on is classified. She disappears for months at a time, then suddenly she'll turn up again, answering e-mails, calling Colby and her friends."

"It bothers you that she doesn't tell you."

"…Yeah"

Alternate Reality –

Several hours later, Cassi headed to the Ori debriefing. After they had cleared her and confirmed that she really was Cassi, she talked Janet and her counterpart. She was close with Don and her father, her mother had died in a car accident when she was seventeen and Charlie was distant. He worked at Harvard and hardly talked to his family. They did discuss how to deal with trying to tell the two Cassi's apart. Cassi was saddened to hear the tale of Daniel's death. Janet was out in the field, caring for a solider, and a Jaffa fired a shot at her Daniel dived in front of her and was killed.

Don, Sam, and Jack were already there, looking at some report. Sam and Don stood up and gasped.

"You got the book the Ori have been using?" asked Cassi, her large eyes shining. Jack nodded in shock and Don passed the book to her, as she grabbed it, their fingers brushed ever so slightly.

Don's hand flew up to her head and he tousled her gold-highlighted hair lovingly. "This reality or not, Dad's gonna kill you when you get home." Smirked Don.

"The name's Cassi." Said Cassi, "I figured this way we could tell me and, well, me, apart for now. And Don, you gotta know that I've done worse things then this, it doesn't really matter what Dad has to say.

"What did you do." Asked Don, his eyes searched for an answer.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." She clutched the book and walked out of the room."

She started for her lab, the one that General Hammond had given her when she had been cleared. Half way, she passed two SFs in hazmat who were running at full speed toward the briefing room. As she turned her head to watch them run down the hall and turn a corner, another SF grabbed her and sat her in a chair. She fought him off in shock. Suddenly Janet was checking her out. Get off me! She said. She still didn't totally trust the people around here. Janet was soon in front of her.

"I need you to stay calm Cassi, but we're going to have to examine you."

"Jan? What's going on?" she questioned as one of the nurses injected something into her veins.

Janet looked extremely grim. "An Ori Plague. We've had an outbreak and Don just collapsed in the Breifing room. You may have been exposed. Did anyone touch you?"

"…yeah, Don gave me the Ori book, then he tousled my hair." She was starting to get drowsy. The male nurse picked her up from her seat and plopped her on a gurney. She was too sleepy to argue.

"This is bad," murmured Janet, "this is really bad."

Within the next 48 hours, Cassi had been poked and prodded by twenty different doctors and they all came to the same conclusion. Somehow Cassi had escaped being infected by the plague. Jack, Don, and Cassandra were all sick and Janet couldn't figure out why Cassi hadn't fallen ill. She shook her head at Cassi's blood work. It was completely clean. Janet had no choice but to give Cassi clean, virus-free clothes and a hazmat suit so that she could help out with the cure. Sam also hadn't been affected, but that hadn't been much of a mystery, since she hadn't been touched by anyone. Cassi headed down to Sam's lab to see what she could do.

Our Reality –

Charlie had ruled out everything he could think of. She hadn't run away, been kidnapped, been killed, done anything. It was as if she simply disappeared. She hadn't even turned invisible, as that left an energy signature. He asked Daniel if there were any other possibilities and he told Charlie that there wasn't.

The Stargate fascinated Charlie. He itched to phone Larry and tell him that black holes did exist and you could use them to travel to other planets that there were aliens on other planets and Dr. Jackson's latest papers before he disappeared had been correct. He constantly talked to various teams, trying to figure out what Cassi was like, but not many people knew, apparently she would keep to herself and work a lot of late nights with Daniel. He _did_ find out that Daniel knew a lot about her and her family, which wasn't all that surprising, since they were engaged. He also found out that Daniel was almost as smart as her when it came to languages and that it seemed that they were made for each other.

Charlie, having two jobs back in California, finally had to go back home after a week of trying to figure out where Cassi had gone. Daniel gave him a fat file before he left, telling Charlie that it was classified information and he couldn't share it with anyone. He opened it on the plane, figuring it was a case file so he could continue to look for his sister while working at CalSci. But it wasn't. It was a personal file. About Cassi.

Cassandra Margaret Eppes (aka Cassi or Cass)

Rank: ColonelHeight: 5'2"Weight: 120 lbs.

Eyes: BlueHair: Black and Curly

Residence: Cheneye Mountain Complex

Claim to Fame: The only person who can seem to keep Jack O'Neill in check.

[Charlie smirked at this, he had met Jack and got an uncle-ish vibe from him when Jack learned Charlie was Cassi's brother

Misdemeanors: Playing hockey in the hallway, Jell-O fight in the commissionary, honorable insubordination. No court marshal offenses.

Training: Black-Ops, Hand-to-Hand (level 5), 3 mths basic, Kickboxing, Judo, SG-training

Service: Afghanistan (1991-1992), Florida (1992-1996), Colorado (1996- Present)

Languages: Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, French, Italian, Israli, Latin, Aramaic, Ancient Egyptian, English, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Gallic, German, Gou'ald, Ancient, Asgard, Jaffa.

--

Favorite Color: Yellow Favorite Food: Pineapple Pizza Favorite Drink: Coffee

Favorite Snack: PopcornFavorite Dessert: Lime Jell-O

All this was followed by tons of letters from Cassi's friends and co-workers, telling Charlie what little they knew about Cassandra Epps.

Dear Charlie,

Cass and I have been involved for a long time now. I recruited her after our secondary flagship team's leader died. I figured we would need another off-world linguist. Hammond was reluctant, but Cassi said she'd go elsewhere if she weren't going to be used in combat. She loves lime Jell-O, though she won't tell anyone that. It took me three weeks to figure out it was her favorite. She's always hated pumpkin pie and can kick most of these guys asses into next week. She won't take crap, though she's a really hard worker. I would find it hard to believe if she was afraid of anything. She talked about you and Don a lot. About how she missed you and wished she could see you grow up. She talked about all the mistakes she thought she had made not looking out for you two. I know she's one to hold grudges and the fight between her and your dad should be over now. That's one thing she might actually be afraid of, she's afraid of being wrong. She doesn't want to admit that she took things over the top. Tell your dad that Cassi's sorry, because she is, and that's she's MIA. That's all you're allowed to tell him, but hopefully it will eventually amend the line.

Your future brother-in-law,

Daniel Jackson

Charlie,

Cassi Eppes is one in a million. She can kickbox like nobody's business and she's one of the few people who can control Jack. Cassi will make it home. She would never leave without saying goodbye. She's made drastic contributions to the USAF. She's smart and wherever she is she always feels the need to prove herself. I've known Cassi for almost eight years; she's an amazing person who always thought highly of her little brothers.

Yours,

Colonel Samantha Carter

Charlie flipped through the letters to see who had written them. Teal'c, Maggie (Cassi's 2IC), General O'Neill, General Hammond, the list went on and on. Charlie stopped when he came across an interesting one from Colby Granger.

Charlie –

I faxed this over to the SGC so you'd know that there's someone back home who can talk to you about this. Cassi is the wisest person I've ever known. I mean, I know she's a whole lot smarter them me, but Cassi has grown up so much since she was 18 and leaving home. I was stationed with her from basic training to 6 years at the SGC. She cried about you guys when she thought nobody was watching. She'll never do anything without a good reason. She's out there Charlie; she's trying to make it home. The fight with your father and her needs to be over. It's a stupid argument and she's been holding a grudge all this time because that's how she is. It's not pretty and it's one of her faults but that's how she is.

Colby Granger

Alternate Reality

Cassi ran back to the lab after she had been cleared, hoping in someway she could help. With Sam was Orlin, the ascended being that 'had the hots' so to speak for the brilliant scientist. He was a lot younger then Cassi remembered.

"What's going on?" asked Cassi.

Orlin looked up from his work, "We are trying to find a cure for the plague Cassandra. How are you holding up?"

"How do you know?"

"When I was ascended I helped bring you here. We have the ability to cross realities."

"Why are you here? And you're…. young!"

"We have discovered that we must intervene. However indirectly – in this form I can retain the maximum amount of information."

"Do you need anything translated? Give me something I can do, you know I stink at science and math."

Sam shook her head. "Right now there's not much to do around here except wait and hope."

"Oookay, that's it. Oma shouldn't be protecting me. I should be in the infirmary with everyone else. This is worse then having the plague, knowing that I can't catch it." Cassi said getting frustrated."

Sam looked up from her work. "You could go to Dakara and help Teal'c convince the other Jaffa that the Ori are enemies and we should stand against them."

"Hey, that's something I can do! Help me convince Hammond and I'll do it."

Three hours later Cassi, wearing a long hooded robe, was walking up the ramp to the gate as a strong disinfectant poured over her. She stepped through the event horizon. Wondering what to expect, she felt the familiar pull of the black hole as she was pulled to Dakara.

"Welcome Cassandra Eppes. I believe this your first time attending the Jaffa council. It would be most wise to put your hood up."

"Riiight. So obviously they're going to know who I am when I announce my intentions, so what does it matter if I wear a hood or not."

"Indeed, but several members may object to having a Tau'ri in the Council Chambers right now. We are near civil war ourselves and many do not take kindly to outsiders opinions."

"Sounds good."

--- Our Reality (LA)

Charlie was working on a new case for Don with Amita, but he couldn't seem to concentrate. His sister had been MIA for several months now. With the thousands of stargate, infinite realities, and the twelve known dimensions capable of being accessed. The possibilities of finding her were impossible. Suddenly a random thought crossed Charlie's mind.

"Amita?" he asked

"Hmmm?" she barely responded, buried in her work.

"How did you get tutored by Cassi when you lived in Northern California and we lived in Pasadena?"

"There was this online homework help site that I joined when I was in Junior High, it would match you up with a tutor that would best fit your needs. I was matched up with Cassi. We would chat online three days a week; she helped me greatly increase my English grammar and writing skills. We kept the connection through her various stations all over the world. When I went to CalSci and I met you, I e-mailed Cassi and asked her if you two were related. She immediately replied that she wanted me to keep her posted on what you were doing and all that. That was, after, your mother passed away."

Alternate Reality –

The council had sat down; everyone was there except Garak. They were waiting for him, not so patiently. "Shall we take vote then?" said Bra'tac. The doors opened and Garak strode in.

"Shit" hissed Cassi. Garak was now a Prior and Cassi knew that this was going to get sticky.

"You must hear me out before a vote is made." He said.

The council was taking a long time, and many were leaning towards accepting the Ori as gods. But they weren't gods they were ascended beings no doubt, but the Ori were conning people into believing, just so that they could get power. She thought about her talk with Orlin hours before. He had told her everything about the Ori. How they got their power from belief, how their staffs where what made them do such horrible things. It was Garak that brought her out of her thoughts

"So, unless someone has something else to add, we will vote." Said Garak and Teal'c made a very slight nod in Cassi's direction. This was her time to say her piece to so many of the Jaffa that she had known over the years she knew that the Cassandra of this world did not often talk to Jaffa, but she knew them, she remembered their faces and their names from so many talks and interactions they had. She stood hooded and looked at the faces of the many that she knew.

"It pains me," she began, "that so many free Jaffa would automatically turn to serve false gods so soon after the Gou'ald have been crippled." The entire hall got deadly quiet. "I have known or met many of you over the years of fighting alongside my race and I am appalled that so many of those who I would risk my life to save, that I have risked my life to save, would throw it away as soon as somebody says that they are a god." The hall gasped and Garak stood up in anger.

"Who are you and what right do you have to accuse us of these things."

Cassi smirked. "You might not have heard of me, for I come from another reality, where things are very different. My name is Cassandra Eppes." Cassi removed her hood. "I might be a stranger in this reality, but you would be wise to listen to my council. The Ori have been lying to you. They will _not_ offer you ascension or power; they are merely power-seeking individuals who will kill anyone who does not believe. Now, I come from a world where you can choose to believe in a religion, but you will not be persecuted for believing. Heed my words. No good will come of this religion."

Garak stood up and strode out of the room. The rest of the council hissed in discussion among them. Cassi, Bra'tac, and Teal'c followed Garak out of the room. They cornered him just outside the council chambers.

"Those who chose to not follow deserve the Ori's punishment." Said Garak, brushing passed Cassi.

Cassi turned and clenched her fists in anger, "Garak, are you saying those who have saved your live and the lives of your family and your people countless times deserve to die because they refuse to believe. Are you saying that I deserve to die merely because I refuse to believe that these ascended beings are simply going to give us ascension? I'm not that dense! I know I doubt people, I'm not a trusting person maybe because I've been fighting false gods fro the past seven years. I fight for my family and I fight for my friends. Please help me, please help my people; we are dying simply because we chose to fight honorably and not simply give up."

Garak thought for a moment, and then said, "What would you have me do?"

"Come to earth, cure us. Help us fight!" Garak simply nodded and followed Teal'c and Cassi towards the Stargate.


End file.
